5 games that will define success for Louisville football in first season under Jeff Brohm

Much like the stars aligned in bringing Jeff Brohm home to coach at his alma mater, the first-year Louisville head football coach will have a favorable 2023 schedule to begin his tenure.

The Cardinals’ slate, released Monday night, features seven home games, including four of the last five contests of the season being played at newly named L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. Unlike last year, U of L has no back-to-back road games, though it does have four non-Saturday games, which limits the opportunities to host recruits.

The schedule is by no means easy — with the Cardinals having to host Notre Dame and Kentucky — but favorable in that there's a clear path to a successful season in Brohm's first year.

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Here are five games Louisville must win to ensure Year 1 under Brohm is a success:

Nov. 25 vs. Kentucky

This one is obvious.

During Brohm’s introductory news conference in December, a fan shouted, “Beat Kentucky.” This, coming just 12 days after UK doubled up U of L 26-13 at Kroger Field.

Former Cardinals head coach Scott Satterfield was unable to win a Governor’s Cup during his four-year tenure with the program, which was one of the knocks against him. Louisville’s losing streak to UK goes back even further than Satterfield, though. The Cardinals haven’t beaten the Wildcats since 2017, a 44-17 victory on the road.

Brohm already has the fan vote, but to further solidify it he’ll need to break the streak and defeat UK. The rivalry, which dates back to 1912, didn’t start back up until 1994, a year after Brohm’s final season as the Cardinals’ quarterback. But there’s no doubt he understands what this game means to his hometown community.

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Sept. 1 at Georgia Tech

Louisville’s season-opening meeting against Georgia Tech appears to be one of the most winnable game on its 2023 schedule. However, the Cardinals are 0-2 against the Yellow Jackets, having lost in 2018 and 2020, both of which were losing seasons for Louisville.

The two schools will play each other more often moving forward, as two of the three primary teams grouped together in the ACC’s new 3-5-5 scheduling format that discards divisions. Ideally, one would want to play a non-conference opponent to start the year and prepare for league play. But if the Cardinals have to start with a league foe, Georgia Tech is a good draw. The Yellow Jackets will also be led by a first-year coach in Brent Key, who was the interim coach for the program last season after Geoff Collins was fired.

If Brohm can lead the Cardinals to a win over Georgia Tech, it’ll be the first time the program has won its season opener since 2020.

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Sept. 16 vs. Indiana

This game has all the makings of a momentum builder for Louisville, which has Georgia Tech and Murray State in the two weeks leading up to the neutral site contest against Indiana.

The Cardinals have not beaten a Power Five school outside of the ACC since the 2019 Music City Bowl, when U of L beat Mississippi State 38-28. So doing so against the Big Ten's Hoosiers would be a sign of growth before diving back into ACC play the following week against Boston College.

It also helps that Brohm has had success coaching against Indiana. Under Brohm, Purdue went 4-1 against IU.

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Nov. 18 at Miami

Given that Louisville is light on road games, each one becomes that much more important. Enter, a flight to South Florida to face the Hurricanes. The game is preceded by Louisville's off week and three home games against Duke, Virginia Tech and Virginia — a winnable stretch for the Cardinals.

It’s also the final ACC game of the season, which means the Cardinals want to be playing their best. But they'll be facing a Canes team that just hauled in one of the best recruiting classes in the country — No. 7 according to 247Sports.com — as it continues its rebuild under Mario Cristobal. The Hurricanes have an 11-3-1 series lead over U of L.

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Sept. 29 at NC State

This will be Louisville’s first big test of the season for a couple of reasons. For starters, it’s a Friday game, which means a shorter turnaround after hosting Boston College six days earlier. Second, the Wolfpack has only lost two home games in the last three seasons and has one of the most notably rowdy stadiums in the ACC. The last time the Cardinals played at N.C. State in 2021, they lost 28-13. The home field advantage at Carter-Finley Stadium is real.

The Wolfpack is also known for its defense, tying Louisville for first in the ACC for fewest points allowed (19.2) in 2022, while giving up the second-fewest touchdowns in the league (29) behind Virginia (26). This will be a good barometer to see how Brohm’s offense stacks up in a new conference against what is traditionally one of the best defenses in the league. This will only be the Cardinals' fifth game of the season, so the learning curve will likely still be there. But having Jack Plummer, who spent four seasons under Brohm at Purdue, at quarterback should greatly help with that process.

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 2023 Louisville football schedule: 5 key games for Jeff Brohm